A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah released the Jharkhand manifesto, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in the state to address rallies. The PM will speak at campaigns in Chaibasa and Garhwa. Polling for the Jharkhand assembly elections will be held on November 13 and November 20. The counting of votes will be held on November 23. In context: The exemption of tribals from the Uniform Civil Code, “putting a full stop” to the alleged “infiltration” in Jharkhand, checking illegal mining, and welfare schemes. These were the major announcements Shah made as he released the BJP manifesto for Jharkhand on Sunday. The underlying message was clear: outreach for the tribal vote. The alleged infiltration in the Santhal Parganas region of Jharkhand has been one of the central BJP planks ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly polls. On Sunday, Shah doubled down on it and said the BJP will take concrete steps to “stop illegal Bangladeshi infiltration in Jharkhand” and protect the rights of tribal communities by putting a “full stop to illegal infiltration”. The BJP also promised “a stringent law” to take back “tribal land from infiltrators”. Shah emphasised that tribal communities would be kept out of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), sending another signal to the community. The Union Home Minister also said the party would operationalise the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA). PESA rules are important for tribal self-governance, with power devolved to the gram sabhas and panchayats falling under Schedule V of the Constitution. The rules ensure that laws made in the state are in conformity with the customary laws and social and religious practices of areas under Scheduled V districts. Under PESA rules, the gram sabhas will have a say on the management of major minerals such as coal and other resources. The Union Home Minister also said the party will make a plea to quash the cases registered by the Forest Department against tribals and Dalits. J&K Assembly session The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will meet for a five-day session starting Monday. The Omar Abdullah-led NC government, which came to power in the recent J&K polls, is the first elected government in J&K after the dissolution of the Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party government in November 2018. Senior National Conference leader and seven-time Charar-e-Sharief constituency MLA Abdul Rahim Rather is set to become the speaker of Abdullah's Assembly. According to the List of Business issued by the Assembly Secretariat, the House will elect the speaker in the first sitting on Monday. On Sunday, NC and Congress — who are allies — met to chalk out a strategy for the session. In the recent Assembly elections, the National Conference (NC) emerged as the single largest party in Jammu and Kashmir and won 42 seats in the 90-member Assembly of the Union Territory. In his first Cabinet meeting, Abdullah unanimously adopted a resolution seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Then, days later, in his first visit to New Delhi after taking oath, Abdullah met PM Narendra Modi. Abdullah is learnt to have sought the Centre’s cooperation in smooth functioning of the UT administration and has apprised Modi about the newly-elected legislature passing a resolution for grant of full statehood to J&K. Omar also handed over the resolution passed by his Cabinet, urging the Centre restore J&K’s statehood “in its original form”, according to officials. — With inputs from PTI
